The U.S. city faces risks including earthquakes, wildfires and rising heat, alongside bustling urban demands for energy

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK, March 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Facing the risks of earthquakes, rising heat and bustling urban demands for energy, Los Angeles is kicking off a strategy to make itself more resilient to threats, officials said on Friday.

The plans include strengthening infrastructure, promoting renewable energy, and protecting residents and neighborhoods in the city of 4 million people, said officials from the city and the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities project.

The strategy aims to combine preparations for sudden shocks such as earthquakes or wildfires with chronic stresses such as climate change, they said.

One goal is to make earthquake early-warning technology available to all residents by the end of the year.

Another is to reduce so-called urban heat islands - when natural land cover is replaced by pavement and buildings - in part by planting more trees.

Others include preparing residents to be self-sufficient for at least seven days by 2022, modernizing the power grid to boost the use of renewable energy by 2036, and investing in stormwater retention to reduce flooding risks by 2028.

"I like that there's a mix of long-, mid- and short-term initiatives," Michael Berkowitz, president of 100 Resilient Cities, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "We see cities struggle with this, more or less successfully, all over the world."

Other U.S. cities that have launched resilience stategies include Atlanta, Georgia - to deal with traffic congestion - and Boston, Massachusetts, which is addressing housing and education inequality and risks of flooding and rising sea levels, officials said.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is reporting on resilience as part of its work on zilient.org, an online platform building a global network of people interested in resilience, in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation.